AKIPRESS.COM – Student protests in France are spreading to more cities and have escalated into clashes with the police, BBC reports.

On Thursday in Paris, protesters splashed a school principal with petrol and set fires in at least two educational institutions.

Marseille police reported that on Thursday, hundreds of young people surrounded a fire truck that had arrived to extinguish a fire at the Saint-Exupéry lycée. They forced the firefighters to abandon the vehicle and then set it on fire.. At another Marseille lycée, named after Victor Hugo, the principal was attacked and injured, according to the prosecutor’s office.

In Nantes city, protesters also set fire to a school’s lobby. In Lille, students built barricades out of garbage containers and set them on fire, while in Strasbourg, garbage containers were also set ablaze near one of the schools. In Dijon, police used tear gas to disperse protesters.

Nationwide student protests against a shortage of teachers, overcrowded classrooms, the poor condition of schools, and heavy student workloads began last week. French authorities state that university students have joined the school students in the past few days, and youth demonstrations have escalated into vandalism and fierce clashes with the police. The students, in turn, accuse the police of using violence.

According to the French Interior Ministry, 440 people have been detained so far, most of them minors, and 48 law enforcement officers have been injured.

In total, protests or related disruptions have affected more than 400 schools across the country, the Ministry noted.

The French government held a meeting regarding the ongoing nationwide mass student protests, Le Monde reports. Following the meeting, authorities announced that the protests had escalated into urban riots involving violence. Some schools will be switched to remote learning. The Ministry of Justice has been instructed to track down and criminally prosecute those responsible for the incidents.